How to prepare for a road trip across one of the most vast and sparse countries of the world - January 2012

Set a budget and stick to it.

Getting your hands on the perfect motor is perhaps one of the most challenging experiences of your road trip before it even begins!!  The first step to buying your motor is set yourself a budget and very important, a realistic budget.  Don’t think that you’re just going to spend a couple hundred dollars and head off into the sunset on a magnificent trouble free journey.  The phrase, ‘you get what you pay for’ comes into mind.  Having said that, you could spend $20,000 on a car for it to breakdown two miles down the road or spend $1,000 and never have any issues, sometimes it’s luck but just be careful.  Have a look around in the papers, on the internet and most importantly talk to the locals who have been brought up with these cars and know the market a lot better than a foreigner.  My friends and I had lengthy talks with a lot of Mike’s regulars in the Civic Hotel and a colleague of mine and finally settled on a budget of $3,000 which was low but seemed to be reasonable for what we were looking for. 

There are other options too.  One is to rent a vehicle to travel across the country but this is out of the question for many as the cost is terrific.  It is, however, a good idea if you are just planning to travel from Melbourne to Cairns over two weeks as you don’t need to worry about selling the vehicle or maintenance etc.  The other option is Relocation Deals from companies such as www.standbyrelocs.com.au who offer rental vehicles that need to be transferred to other locations around the country.  The costs can be as low as $1/day and have all the fuel paid for.  We seriously considered this option as it is cheap and we wouldn’t have to worry about selling the car at the end.  After consideration we decided that for our purpose we were going to need our own car.  Owning your own car gives you the freedom that rental vehicles don’t.  Plus we were going to be looking for work and having our own car would help no end.

Type of motor

This step can come either before or after your budget setting.  Normal 3/4/5 door car, station wagon, campervan or van.  Have a look at the pros and cons of each including size, fuel economy, practicality and of course style.  Talk to other backpackers about their experiences as it is highly likely that you are buying a vehicle at one of the points where people either begin or end their trip so will be able to give you good advice.  We decided before what we wanted due to recommendations from previous travellers who had travelled Australia before.  Most people had praised station wagons as they have the size to store all your belongings and are small enough to travel efficiently and through cities too.  Depending on whether you’re claustrophobic or not, you can even transform your vehicle to house a mattress in the back to sleep in.  I personally didn’t want to do that as cars get stuffy far too quickly and I like to stretch out when I sleep.  So we decided on getting some small tents which we would erect beside the car at night. 

Once you have decided on the type of motor you want.  Get more precise about the details.  Make/Model/Transmission/Engine Size.  You’ll find that the most popular choice amongst travellers and locals are Holden or Fords as they are extremely common which means should anything go wrong, parts are easy to come by and anyone will be able to fix them.  Try to avoid Korean/Japanese/European cars as parts won’t be easy to find and repairs could cost you more than you bought it for.  That’s not saying those cars aren’t any good as we know Japanese cars are indestructible, or at least were until the last few batches of cars had severe braking issues!!  It is just a ‘worst case scenario’ risk you have to factor in when buying a car.

Find the car

Now that you have a good understanding of the local car market and your ideal specifications, it’s time to begin the search.  We bought countless copies of the Quakka, which is a free ads paper which comes out every week and highlighted all those vehicles that came in within our budget.  Then we went through and crossed out the ones that did not adhere to our specs.  It’s a lengthy process but it’s worth doing.  Also the internet has some fantastic websites such as www.gumtree.com.au and www.ebay.com.au.  The other option is to go around the local backpacker hostels and look on their notice boards for cars for sale.  A tip that my work friend Gavin gave me was to completely ignore the ‘extras’ that backpackers list with their car as they want to entice more people and make it seem like an irresistible deal.  Just remember that camping equipment is dead cheap when you split it between a few of you.  Focus on the vehicle and that’s it.  Don’t take peoples word for it, for example, if they tell you the timing belt has just been changed or the head gasket has just been done.

My friend Rory, broke the news to me one day following several weeks sweating over the papers and websites that his Uncle Andy is a car dealer and specialises in cars under $5,000.  Mike and I were excited by the prospect of buying a car off a person whom we kind of knew as it’s more trustworthy.  We turned up to his dealership on an absolutely sweltering day to be greeted by Uncle Andy, an enthusiastic ex pat from Leeds.  He promptly took us around his lot and pointed out the cars he had for us and knocked off a $1,000 from the marked price.  Wow, this isn’t the way it’s done.  Shouldn’t it be us who knock the price down?  Anyway, we looked at the cars he had and picked out the only viable option for us.  That was a Hyundai Lantra Sportswagon.  We took it for a drive and checked out the engine and how it drove.  Of course you cannot check 100% of the engine when you test the car and it may be worthwhile paying for a professional to check it over for you before you buy.  You can do a few things before this though and The AA have a fantastic guide to assist you here.  Take your time and don’t feel pressured into buying until you’re ready.  It’s your right to know what you’re buying before you do so if they don’t like the idea of your mechanic looking at it you know it’s probably a bad deal.  From what we checked, the car was in a very good condition and was driving really smoothly.  One thing that people tend to forget when testing a car is the air conditioning.  For god’s sake, don’t make that mistake in Australia as you will need it at some point!

Hyundai Lantra, AKA WALTER

Mike and I discussed the pros and cons of buying the car for a while.  It wasn’t necessarily what we were ideally looking for in so far that it wasn’t a Ford or Holden but then decided that we trusted Uncle Andy more than we could an average Joe on the street or another dealer.  At least we knew him and he knew that we knew him and if anything happened we’d find him!  We took the plunge and sealed the deal with a couple of beers as we handed the money over to Andy.  In addition to the sale, he signed us up to an Australian wide warranty which would help us out a little if we got stuck.  Of course these warranties are littered with get out clauses but it’s better than nothing!  Within a couple of hours, we had bought a car and were driving back to Inglewood with massive smiles on our faces.  The trip had become real, we had the means to do it!

Knowing you’ve done all you can

It's not a V8 but it will do the job...hopefully

With any journey, you need to reassure yourself that you have done all you possibly can to overcome any potential issues should they arise.  In the case of a vehicle, you must ensure you know as much about the engine condition as possible.  We took it to a mechanic whom Uncle Andy had recommended to get engine oil, transmission oil, coolant flush and change.  In addition to this we wanted him to look over the engine including timing belt to ensure there were no pre-existing problems before we left.  In the meantime, we had also discovered that one of the rear passenger doors didn’t lock with the central locking system and that one wheel nut had been damaged so we could get it off should we need to.  Mike and I fixed the door locking situation with a bit of ‘Heath Robinson’ style by taking the inner door panel off and disconnecting the central locking solenoid actuator which was stuck open meaning the door lock wouldn’t engage.  Now it locks but only manually.

The mechanic unfortunately came back with some rather distressing news that the timing belt did in fact need to be changed.  He gave us an absurd quote which we dismissed and immediately called Uncle Andy for advice.  Andy just told us that he’d deal with it.  That’s what he did, he footed the bill for the work and we soon had a car perfectly fit for the journey ahead.

Which way cobber?

Plan your journey.

Planning your journey is an ongoing process and should, by all means, never be set in stone with no space for variation.  Just to know which way you’re heading is important.  For us it was North or East.  Unfortunately the journey we wanted to do was now impractical as we originally wanted to head North to Darwin and then South through the centre but January is in the middle of wet season.  Driving in wet season can be extremely hazardous with flash floods and roads getting cut off.  So across the Nullabor it is towards Adelaide and Melbourne.  As we needed to do three months regional work to qualify for our second year working holiday visas, we also needed to include this in our plan.  We decided that we were going to head across the Bass Strait to Tasmania where we could pick apples.  Then we’d cross back over and head up the East Coast.

Equipment

Having bought your vehicle and planned your journey, it is now time to decide what equipment you need to take with you.  We had decided that we were going to camp our way around in tents.  As the Nullabor is one of the driest landscapes of the world and it was the middle of summer, we thought that some cheap tents would do, so we bought three two-man tents from K-Mart to suffice.  To cook, we bought a single Butane gas burner and Billy Can.  My work colleagues bought me a cool box, or as they call it, an Esky.  Survival is also an important consideration and having enough water and fuel is without a doubt things you need to get you across the country as you don’t know where the next running water is, so we bought a Gerry can and also a water butt.  We also bought a power inverter for our car so we could charge our electrical devices as we were on the road.

The week before we left, we decided that it would be a good idea to have a test pack where we would put all our things in the car to see if they would fit and the best way to pack the car.  Thankfully it all fitted.

Set a date

Unfortunately our date of departure kept being put further and further back.  Our original plan was to leave in October, then November, then just after Christmas but with our jobs, friends and desire to save enough money before we left it got pushed further to the end of January. 

Get a Mascot.

Tanwyn and Mike were onto this task with open arms when they visited a local pet shop to buy a mouse for the journey.  They had originally tried to capture one of the many mice that ran around our house but they kept escaping.  So the only way was to buy a domesticated mouse.  Her name was Sergeant Spliff.

With all the above completed, we were ready to hit the road!!

Perth, A Home Away From Home, 2 July 2011 - 29 January 2012

Perth's dramatic cityscape during Australia Day celebrations.

The sun floods the buildings of Perth in a deep red glow as it quickly and solemnly disappears marking the beginning of our final night in the city as the Awesome Australian Adventure commences the next day.  Our bags are packed and memories of the fantastic six months we spent in the wonderful city of Perth came flooding through my mind.  Not many travellers make it over to Perth as they only spend their time on the East coast where the major cities of Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Cairns are and the natural attraction of the Great Barrier Reef.  That was one of the main reasons I came to the West coast, the other was that I have family over here. 

Getting Employed

My colleague Vicky and I with HCN's Salvo's donation

As soon as I hit the ground I began hunting for jobs through websites, newspapers, shop windows and singing up to every employment agency in the city.  Adam Yaxley, a school friend of mine had suggested that I tried Integrity as he had got a few jobs from them when he was in Perth.  Ally, who was my consultant at Integrity Staffing was fantastic, she had offered me a position within the first week as an Administrative Assistant within the mortuary at one of Perth’s largest hospitals.  This position fell through and I am now relieved that it did as the job would require me to deal with the dead bodies, organise viewings of the bodies which includes Sudden Infant Deaths which I don’t know I could have coped with.  It would have certainly been a depressing job.  Nevertheless I continued my hunt until I received a phone call from Ally saying that she had found me a position at Health Corporate Network which was part of the Department of Health.  I went for an interview and was employed. 

A view from my office on a dramatic day

My work at Health Corporate Network (HCN) couldn’t have been better.  I started with the company as a Personal Assistant for the Directors of Finance and Supply and providing administrative assistance to the Communications Coordinator.  The executives I was working with and the wider team were a fantastic group of people who I shared many laughs with during my time.  Despite my contract initially finishing in October, it got extended until the end of the year and with my line manager, Monique leaving in December to get married and go to follow her dream studies at university, I stepped up into her position as Executive Assistant for the remainder of my time there.  I was with HCN for my total allowance of six months and left behind a completely new team whom I had the pleasure to meet and handover. 

Matthew Duncan Esq

My official photographer arrived!

A few weeks into August saw a reunion as Matt Duncan joined me on my Epic Voyage for the third time.  Rather symbolically he had begun the voyage with me in Tallinn, experienced the middle when he joined me in Hong Kong and China and now joined me for the end of the first leg of the Voyage.  I saw landing in Perth as the end of a rather long firs leg as I had managed to follow the land and sea route all the way across to Singapore until I had to fly.  The second leg of the Journey is aptly named ‘Awesome Australian Adventure’ will begin as soon as we hit the road again.  Whilst Matt was visiting, we hired a car and drove down to the South West, Margaret River.  My first trip of many to the region and I absolutely adore the place.   The sun was shining over the wonderful green landscape, the turquoise ocean as the whales come up for breath during their migration to Antarctica for the summer and most importantly the numerous wineries, breweries, chocolate factory, cheese factories and ice cream factories.  

Whale spotting at Cape Naturalist

The weekend began a little strangely as the hostel I wanted to stay in was fully booked so we ended up in another which was filled to the brim with what we called ‘angry grape pickers’ who had marked the walls counting down the eighty-eight day regional work sentence to make them eligible for a second year visa.  Not one person spoke to us, not one person responded to our presence it was as though we weren’t there.  Not very much like hostels we had experienced in other countries.  We were fed up almost straight away so decided to go to the bottle shop and buy some beers and grab something to eat.  With the beers in hand, we sat down at the burger/kebab place where we started talking to a couple of blokes that were in there.  They had been mates for a long time but were down in Margaret River to see a hip-hop band.  They invited us back to their hostel to drink beer which was a little strange but with the option of going back to the hostel, we decided to just go along with it.  Once we were in their room, they began to get out their stash of drugs.  Began on the splifs and then the crack pipe came out.  They could do those drugs but when it came to drinking beer were absolutely useless.  Anyway, we drank our beers and pretty much left them crashed out to find the hostel pretty much deserted.  The following day we moved to a beach house in Dunsborough which was fantastic. 

Tanwyn Smith-Meek and City West Receptions

Reece, Juliana and me

In the midst of September, Tanwyn joined us in Perth.  I have known Tanwyn for a few years as we have worked together at the Maddermarket Theatre back in Norwich.  He had finished college and struggling to find employment as many young people in the UK are.  I had invited him out before I left and he took me up on the offer and flew out to Perth.  Within a week both Tanwyn and I had found a job (A second job for me to pay for my dental treatment) at City West Receptions where we were waiters, bar tenders and assisted in the setup of functions.  I had previously done a trial at an Italian restaurant in Mount Lawley as a runner.  That was hectic and needless to say they got someone with more experience than me… thankfully.  City West receptions was a little less hectic as it was near enough all standard and you knew what you had to do.  I stayed there for a couple of months before leaving as I felt I needed more time for myself, especially over the Christmas period and with the pay rise at HCN, I didn’t need to second job anymore.

Housemates from Heaven and Hell

Our house on Beaufort Street

Our time in Perth was fantastic, the sun mostly shines whether it’s winter or summer and the laid back atmosphere has you calm the moment you step onto the streets.  The only downfall with Perth was our accommodation.  Two weeks after moving into our comfortable flat in Inglewood, we had to move as the landlady wanted to rent the place out to four people instead of just two.  Mike and I really didn’t want to move to her other property next door as it was clearly cramped with six people staying in three rooms.  The room which was earmarked for us was more like a broom cupboard.  No matter how hard we tried to find another place to stay, we couldn’t and had to decide whether we should move back to a hostel or move temporarily into the house next door.  Needless to say we chose the latter and it wasn’t temporary.  Our original housemates were fantastic, Frenchman Vince and his Australian wife Kylie and an Irish guy called Daniel.  Daniel was only there for a couple of weeks before landing his dream job in the mines and was off which was a shame but also good news for us as we got to relocate out of the broom cupboard into a bigger room with a window.  With the departure of Daniel opened up two beds that two more Irish people filled, Eoin and Kate who were both superb. 

Us with Kylie and Vince on our tree swing

We were only going to stay in the house until Mike found a job and we had enough money to afford something a little better but with Mike finding a job literally two minutes down the road at the Civic Hotel as a barman made it a little more difficult for us to find another as we had to search for accommodation around the same area.  We thought it didn’t really matter anyway as we were planning to leave in November anyway.  It was fine until the end of November when Eoin, Kate, Vince and Kylie all moved out paving the way for three more Irish people to move in.  It is incredible how many Irish people there are in Perth.  With the three girls came their friends whom stayed over for days and were incredibly inconsiderate.  We felt as though we were being forced out of the house and several times I had to tell them to ‘shut the funk up as I had work in four funking hours!’ Needless to say we were so happy to get out of there away from those and away from the landlady who took it upon herself to rip anyone off she pleased.

Old Friends and New Friends

Tahir, Tanwyn, Mike and I on Mustang Wednesday

We had many nights out with my friend Tahir, whom I had taught with in Poland back in 2006, now lived and worked in Perth as a Hydrogeologist.  Wednesdays were our special nights, Mustang Wednesdays!  First to the Couch Surfing meet up at the Brass Monkey in Northbridge followed by Mustang where there were jugs of beer for $10 and a live band.  Not forgetting the odd Tequila which always seems like a good idea in the evening but is definitely regrettable when your head is slumped over the desk at work foggy and aching.  The worst hangover was during my final week at HCN were Tequila was certainly not a good idea, my eyes were straining, gut wrenching and head banging as I facilitated a meeting between the Communications Coordinator and new executive support team.  I will never drink before work again!!!!  It was great to see Tahir again and without him Perth wouldn’t have been the same.  Cheers mate!

I had met so many awesome people in Perth who are now friends.  Too many to mention here but you know who you are! 

Me, Suzanne, Lou, Mike and Matt during their tour of South West Australia

Christmas with Family

Us with the Surf Life Guards at Cottesloe during the making of our Christmas message

Christmas was a strange time of year for us as temperatures pushed up into the forties, it certainly couldn’t have felt any further away from the cold and snow at home in the UK.  Christmas Eve was completely different to what we were used to.  Back at home it was Crispmas eve, where Mike, Mark, Luke, Kev, Duncan and I would hit the pubs of Norwich for a few drinks and celebrate by buying a huge number and variety of crisps to share with the pub.  Here in Perth, we sat in Tahir’s Jacuzzi and swimming pool drinking beer out of champagne glasses soaking up the beautiful weather.  It didn’t feel like Christmas though, at all!  The next day, Christmas Day, we went up to Lesmurdie to spend the day with my family.  We sat outside by the pool, drinking cold larger and eating cold meat with salad.  Absolutely bizarre.  Christmas had its memories.  Mainly Nerf guns.  For weeks after I woke up sweating with fear as I imagined those foam bullets hitting my head every two seconds.  It was absolute carnage as Dave’s kid’s guns were taken over by the adults who raged all-out war against each other.  It is certainly a ‘You don’t know man, you weren’t there’ memory. 

Celebrating Christmas Eve in the Jacuzzi

One of my most treasured memories of my time in Australia was having the chance to meet my family out here.  They all showed me such generosity and helped me settle into Australia and for that I have to say thank you, I really appreciate it.  You’re all absolutely fantastic!

Final Goodbye

Nick, me, Ash and her friend playing Shithead

It was the night before we were leaving on our journey to nowhere, and we had arranged a gathering at the Civic Hotel to say goodbye and celebrate our time in Perth with friends whom we had met in the fantastic city.  Among those friends were Ash and Matt whom I met in Vietnam over a year previous.  You may remember me mentioning them in one of my blogs as I had an awesome time drinking with them in Hué and they had beaten me so many times playing ‘shithead’ it wasn’t funny.  Especially as shots of arse was the penalty.  It was due time for a rematch and that we did!  The bonus being, I didn’t lose!!!  Matt and Ash had continued travelling after Vietnam and had ended up working in the UK for a few months before heading back home to Perth.  I thoroughly enjoyed catching up with them and it was immediately like old times… without the shots of arse!

As the night came to a close, Tanwyn and I sat in our back garden with a drink and some food to soak up the alcohol before heading to bed.  Suddenly we heard a scream and what seemed like a girl screaming for help.  Tanwyn and I stood silent for a moment until another scream was heard and we ran towards it and found a guy pinning a girl up against the wall.  It turned out that they were in a relationship of sorts and she had just broken up with him.  Once we intervened things turned ugly, his defences went up and obviously just wanted to let his frustration out on someone.  Tanwyn and I began the dance and tried to calm things down as much as possible but he was too high on adrenaline, wasn’t listening to us and just thought we wanted a fight.  I retrieved my phone from my pocket and call ‘000’ and lodged a call with the police.  It took ages for them to arrive and we didn’t know whether we could keep the peace for much longer.  A lady and her son turned up in a van and joined the peace keeping force.  I phoned the police again and told them that they really needed to get there as soon as possible because a fight was about to break out.  The guy was not getting anywhere with the girl and his anger was boiling out of control.  He came at all three of us trying to intimidate us into a fight, but thankfully nothing happened.  The police arrived and stepped in.  The guy wasn’t going without a fight which was unfortunate for him as the police weren’t going to take any shit from him and planted his face into the ground.  He was stuffed into the back of the police vehicle and unfortunately the girl seemed as though she didn’t want to press any charges, so he probably got out the next day.  It wasn’t the perfect end to our time in Perth, that’s for sure!

Us at Cottesloe, forgive the stranger's finger over the lens...